Morning in Equestria
by Rosepixie
Summary: A series of very short stories about characters from the My Little Pony universe in the morning. There is very little plot, but it is safe to assume that the stories all take place on the same morning, so small connections may become evident. I have no current plans to expand any of these into longer stories, but may continue to add more of them over time.
1. Granny Smith

Granny Smith woke up before anybody else. She was always excited the day before a reunion. Most days she slept in just little while her grandchildren did morning chores and then she got up to make them breakfast, but today she got up before any of them. She started by baking warm cinnamon bread and left it out to cool so her grandchildren could enjoy it for breakfast.

Once that was out of the way, Granny Smith set out to bake her famous apple pies! They were always a big hit at the reunions and she enjoyed making them very much. She started by gathering all the ingredients and supplies for the crusts and then she got down to work. All she needed now were fresh apples!

Big Mac came down first. He wordlessly ate some bread and, since there were few chores for the day, quickly fetched a bushel of apples. Then he headed out towards town. He didn't say where he was going, but Granny Smith smiled as she rolled out her pie dough. She was pretty sure she had a good idea of what his secret errand might be. He would tell her about it in his own good time.

Apple Bloom bounced down next. She chattered constantly as she munched her bread and then cheerfully fetched the requested bushel of apples. Almost before Granny Smith realized that she was going, Apple Bloom had disappeared to meet her little friends at the treehouse. Granny Smith just shook her head and chuckled as she continued pressing dough snuggly into the pie tins to form the bottom crusts for pies. Those fillies were so impatient to get their cutie marks, but she sometimes wondered if they would have as much fun once they had them as they did trying to make it happen.

The last to come down was Applejack. She was usually up first, but Granny Smith suspected that something had been keeping her up late and refrained from commenting. She watched her usually cheerful granddaughter eat in silence. Applejack would tell her what was wrong when she was ready.

While Applejack was out doing her chores, Granny Smith sat down to begin peeling the apples that Big Mac and Apple Bloom had brought for her. She enjoyed the unusual quiet of the house while she worked. She loved everything about pie-making and the prospect of a whole day making her famous apple pies had her feeling very content.

Eventually, Applejack came back with a third bushel of apples for the pies. Without a word, she joined Granny Smith peeling apples. After a while, she finally spoke, making Granny Smith smile. She knew Applejack well enough to have waited and now she knew her granddaughter had finally decided to tell her what was wrong.

"Granny, I been thinkin' … "


	2. Flim

Flim looked out of the tent at the clear morning sky. It was a beautiful day - a perfect day to set up shop in a new town. Just over the rise was Applewood, another place with a large Apple Family orchard.

The Apple Family was the biggest thorn in his side. Every time he and Flam set up shop in a town without an Apple Family orchard, they did well and made lots of bits. The problem was that they often struggled to secure a large enough supply of apples in those towns. Supply was never a problem where there were Apple Family orchards, but the family consistently found ways to turn ponies against Flim and Flam, forcing them to leave town with little or no profit.

At least Applewood wasn't as bad as Ponyville. After their last visit to Ponyville, they weren't even sure if they should ever visit there again! The most frustrating pony from the Apple Family, Applejack, was considered a pillar of the community there. Whenever they ran into her it never turned out well. Flim dreamed of getting revenge on her and all of the Apples, but so far he hadn't figured out how to go about doing it.

It hadn't actually been very long since their last visit to Applewood. Flim scowled as he recalled the argument he and Flam had had about it. He felt that they should avoid Apple Family towns for a while. At least until they had a plan for dealing with them. Flam had been adamant that they try Applewood again, though, so here they were. The miracle tonic hadn't done so well here, but they had a new product to sell now - a "healing" balm that was really just apple butter with a little aloe. Hopefully this would do better.

With a sigh, Flim sat down to eat some breakfast and wait for Flam to wake up. Perhaps he could come up with a solution. They had come with a bigger supply of balm and of apples than they usually travelled with, so perhaps they wouldn't need to meet the Apples at all.

Why did Flam want to come back here so badly, anyway? At first, Flim had wondered if it was a mare, but Flam had laughed at the suggestion. But if it wasn't a mare, then what was it? Maybe he had a grudge against someone here? Fim made himself a second bowl of oatmeal as he considered this possibility.

Flim realized that Flam hadn't woken up yet. That was unusual. Generally, he was up and about before Flim got through his first bowl of oatmeal. Why would he be sleeping late today? Maybe Flim should go check on his brother, find out what was going on.


	3. Lyrica

Lyrica sat at her dressing table sipping lemon tea. It was midmorning, which was a bit earlier than she had planned to get up. Unfortunately, there had been a few problems with the costumes during a dress rehearsal for Aida last night. She had been halfway through her favorite aria when her headdress had literally fallen apart on her head! After the finale, the company had inspected the rest of the costumes and discovered that nearly every piece was on the verge of disintegrating.

Lucky for the company, opening night wasn't for another week. They were supposed to have a special preview performance tonight, but they could make do with what they had for it. Next week was a different story, though. The real performances had to be as perfect as they could make them. Especially the command performance for the four royal princesses in two weeks!

As a result of this emergency, today Lyrica had to make a trip out to Ponyville to see what could be done before opening night. Lyrica's friend Sapphire Shores had been at the rehearsal last night and had recommended a designer from Ponyville that she had hired for costumes in the past. Lyrica was hoping that this designer would be able to help them. The original costume designer had been a young pony from Manehatten, but they were wary of asking her to fix things after seeing the quality she had provided so far. Lyrica had no doubt that the business office would take it up with her at some point, though.

And so she had picked out a small selection of pieces to take with her to see if Sapphire's designer would (and could) help them out. She would much rather be resting for the performance tonight, but she wouldn't leave this errand to anyone else. It was far too important.

A knock heralded the arrival of the hired porter who would accompany her to Ponyville with the box of costume pieces. With a sigh, she stood up and squared her shoulders, ready for the day's errand.


	4. Gilda

Gilda had flown until pretty late last night, so she let herself sleep in a bit. She woke on the cloud she had fallen asleep on and looked around. The cloud had blown a ways during the night and she needed to figure out where she was.

Launching herself high into the air to survey the landscape below, Gilda saw that there was a river flowing by and she could see the Everfree Forest not far off. Beyond that, she knew, was Ponyville, which mean that she was closer to Cloudsdale than she had been when she stopped for the night.

Gilda was heading there for the Autumn Festival that marked the shift from summer to fall. Before she got there, though, she needed to find some breakfast. Gilda liked the ponies she had become friends with, but their food definitely left something to be desired. Since she knew that there wouldn't be a scrap of meat in Cloudsdale, Gilda set out to find something worth eating before she headed to the festival.

The river looked promising, so she decided to start there. She swooped low over the water looking for prey. She spotted a school of fish close to the surface and dived through the air towards it. Her front feet breached the water sending fish scrambling in all directions. In the chaos, Gilda managed to grab one. She soared back up towards the sky with her prize.

Finding a perch on a cloud, she set to feasting on her catch. Fish were better cooked, but even an uncooked fish was better than the rabbit food that she knew would be waiting for her in Cloudsdale!


	5. Rarity

Rarity's alarm went off and she slipped the silk sleep mask off of her eyes so that she could turn it off. Opal was curled up on her velvet pillow pointedly showing in intention of getting up. Rarity sighed and climbed out of bed.

Any proper day started with a proper breakfast, so Rarity headed down to her kitchen. She had a muffin that she had bought yesterday, so she sat down to eat it. She loved muffins. They were the perfect breakfast - not too heavy or too light, a perfect mix of sweet and healthy, and always exactly the right amount of food.

As she did every morning, Rarity went over her plans for the day as she ate. She had dropped off a big order with a customer in Canterlot yesterday and had no remaining outstanding orders, so she would be able to spend time in her inspiration room working on new designs today. It had been a while since Rarity had gotten a day to simply design and she was very much looking forward it.

Pinkie Pie was coming to bake in Rarity's kitchen later, but she was hoping to be able to simply leave Pinkie alone and get some work done herself.

As she was cleaning up from breakfast, Rarity remembered that she had promised to drop a box of Daring Do fan club badges off at Twilight's castle this morning. She had designed and made them several days ago at Rainbow's request. The club's first meeting was today and she needed to get them over to Twilight.

"Hmm …" Rarity mused as she looked around the main workroom, "where did I put that box?"


	6. Twilight Sparkle

Princess Twilight Sparkle woke up in her crystal bedroom in her shiny new crystal tree castle. She hadn't fully adjusted to actually being an alicorn princess yet when she suddenly had more to get used to! Now she had her very own castle complete with guards and thrones and everything.

Twilight glanced over towards Spike's little bed and was surprised to find it empty. Usually the little dragon was still asleep when she got up. She wondered where he was as she stretched out her wings (they still got stiff when she slept).

She opened her bedroom door and sighed. On either side stood two stiff guards staring stoically straight ahead. Twilight was not used to being guarded all the time yet. She was still borrowing guards from Canterlot and the Crystal Empire, but Celestia had been encouraging her to form her own company of guards. Several of the ones currently working for her had made it clear that they would be happy to stay on a more permanent basis when her guard company was created. Twilight was grateful, but it still felt too intimidating to her.

As she headed towards the dining room, she turned her mind to more pleasant matters - her project for the day. Rainbow Dash had come up with the idea of forming a Daring Do Fan Club and today was the first meeting. Twilight had already made a checklist of all the things that they should talk about at the meeting.

With her checklist before her, Twilight sat down to nibble at some daisies and do the first thing on her to-do list for the day - double-check the checklist!


	7. Big Mac

Big Mac had a small mirror in his room, but he almost never looked into it. Apple trees didn't care how he looked and his sisters would generally do something about it if his mane got too wild or something was on his face. Today he wanted to look his best, though. Today was a special day. Today he was going to propose to Cheerilee.

After fixing his mane again and assuring himself that he looked fine, Big Mac headed downstairs. Granny Smith was in the kitchen baking and there was no sign of either of his sisters yet.

"Look nice this morning, Big Mac," Granny Smith greeted him. "Would you bring me a bushel of apples before you head out today? I'm baking pies for the reunion tomorrow."

"A-yup," Big Mac replied, heading out the door.

It only took a few minutes for him to complete Granny Smith's request. He delivered the apples to the kitchen and then headed off for town. His first stop was at Sugarcube Corners for a special cupcake he had requested earlier in the week.

"Good morning, Big Mac!" Mrs. Cake greeted him as she came bustling out of the kitchen.

Mr. Cake had been restacking candy boxes that the twins had knocked over, but on hearing his wife's greeting he turned to see Big Mac.

"Today's the day?" he asked.

"A-yup," Big Mac replied.

"Good luck!" the tall pony said with a grin before turning to resume his task.

Mrs. Cake retrieved a prettily wrapped pastry box with a red ribbon around it. She passed it across the counter to Big Mac.

"I'm sure she'll say yes," Mrs. Cake offered. "That pony is crazy about you!"

Big Mac smiled and headed off to his next stop - the flower stand. He sure hoped that she was going to say yes!


	8. Comet Tail

Comet Tail loved the feel of the fresh, morning air blowing his mane and tail. He loved the sounds of the park with birds and small animals bustling about at their morning tasks. They always made him smile and think of her.

He was nearing her cottage, but hadn't spotted her yet. Perhaps she was still inside, asleep. He tried hard to make sure his run took him past her home at the same time every morning when she was usually out feeding the animals she took care of.

The trail wound around behind her cottage and his hooves picked up speed, pounding rhythmically on the dirt path. Comet Tail had always enjoyed his morning run, but lately the highlight had become the glimpse he got of her feeding the chickens and playing with various animals.

He heard her voice before he saw her. She was singing as she spread seeds and corn kernels among the flock of birds who lived in her yard. The morning sunshine glinted off her butter-yellow coat and shell-pink mane and tail. Her voice, sweet as any angel's, seemed to dance enticingly through the park. She was a vision.

Comet Tail slowed to a walk as he passed her yard, trying to make his glimpse of her stretch out even longer. He smiled as he listened to her sing. One day, he swore to himself, he would work up the courage to go talk to her. One day he would tell her how beautiful she is.

But not today.


	9. Rainbow Dash

Rainbow Dash was up early clearing the sky of clouds over Cloudsdale to help ensure that the sky would be clear and beautiful for the festival. Normally, Rainbow was excited about festivals, but today she was eager to finish up her weather duties and get back to Ponyville.

Rainbow had convinced Twilight to start a Daring Do fan club as part of her efforts to spread the magic of friendship throughout Equestria and today was the first meeting. As one of Daring Do's biggest fans, Rainbow had lots of ideas for the club. She was hoping to get to Twilight's castle early to help set up.

The other weather ponies were laughing and playing as they worked. Normally, Rainbow was doing the same. She loved her work as a weather pony. Lately, however, she had felt much more at home in Ponyville than in Cloudsdale and how she split her time clearly reflected that. She had convinced several of her Cloudsdale friends to join the Daring Do fan club, though, so she hoped that would help bridge the two towns more.

Once the sky was finally clear, Rainbow Dash headed off to the Wonderbolts training grounds. Daring Do was an extremely popular series in Cloudsdale, even among the Wonderbolts. She wanted to invite her friends in the Corps to join the fan club too. She knew that they probably wouldn't be able to make the meeting today, but there would be more meetings in the future.

Rainbow Dash was excited and hoped the club turned out to be as much fun as she expected it to be. Maybe if it was successful enough she could convince "A. K. Yearling" (the real Daring Do) to come do a signing or something for the club members!


End file.
